The lobby of the Hwang-Ho Euthanasia Center.
A young man walked in like he owned the place, flanked by two girls like some wannabe playboy.
He greeted everyone cheerfully.
"Hello, everyone? It's Yu-Han!"
At that sound, the sanctioners in the lobby turned their heads in unison to glare at Yu-Han.
Standing next to him, Alice was flustered, overwhelmed by the sudden murderous glares focused on them.
"Yu-Han...? No negotiation, no conversation, not even a covert operation? You're just walking in through the front door!"
"It's a waste of precious brain cells to devise a strategy for small-fry centers like this one. Still, they are suitable as teaching materials for your combat education. Watch closely and learn how it's done."
At Yu-Han's relaxed insults, the Hwang-Ho staff turned ferocious.
"You bastard!! A no-name sanctioner daring to spout such nonsense!"
As professional sanctioners, their movements were different from the thugs or protesters Alice had seen before.
They charged at Yu-Han with clean movements and clear murderous intent.
However, to Yu-Han, even that seemed unsatisfactory.
"Watch closely, Alice. Humans are worse at controlling their own bodies than you think... You just have to gently place your blade where their body parts drift due to inertia. Easy, right?"
Yu-Han's carbon-coated blade was sucked exactly into the eyeball of the man charging at the front.
The movement was so smooth that it felt as if he had merely held the blade out, and the opponent had rushed in to die on his own accord.
Kim Ga-Eun also watched the scene with admiration.
"That is... Yu-Han C's signature move, 'Death's Orbit'...!"
"Ga-Eun. I never gave it such a Chuunibyou name."
Even while rebuking Kim Ga-Eun, his hands moved continuously and diligently, like flowing water.
He buried a knife into an approaching enemy, summoned a second knife in his other hand, and slashed another enemy.
"Idiots! Don't just charge blindly, use magic!!"
They finally widened the distance and began to form orbs of fire, water, and lightning magic to launch at him.
Yu-Han let out a deep sigh.
"The more you process mana, the lower the energy conversion efficiency becomes! Unless you have a specific intention, use Pure Mana energy."
Yu-Han began to wrap his body and blade in transparent white mana—pure, raw power. Then, he charged straight into the barrage of magical attacks.
The elemental magic scattered helplessly against Yu-Han's rush, and the remaining enemies were all decapitated as he closed the distance.
"As expected of... Yu-Han C...!"
Kim Ga-Eun smiled at the sight, licking her upper lip as if savoring a delicious meal.
Of course, naive Alice couldn't understand why she was doing that.
"The enemies in the lobby are dealt with. Only the second floor and the basement remain. The Director's office should be on the second floor, and the warehouse in the basement."
"Then, that person named Yi Rang must be in the basement! We have to go there immediately..."
"Why go there? That stupid woman isn't my business. Besides, if we kill the Director, she'll be saved automatically."
"But what if something happens and she gets hurt!"
At Alice's insistence, Yu-Han sighed deeply again.
"Then you go to the basement. Practice on the human trashes down there. Ga-Eun? Go with her."
"Yes! Of course!"
Yu-Han tapped Alice on the back.
The same white mana that wrapped around him now swirled around Alice's entire body.
"This is...?"
"I gave you a mana coating. Even a tool becomes somewhat useful if you apply some mana to it."
"Do you have to say it like that?"
"Oops! Do you have time to argue? Even at this moment, that stupid tiger lady might be writhing in pain..."
"I'm sick of this..."
"If you're sick of it, finish the job quickly. Well... while I kill the Director alone, you guys will probably be dawdling forever."
Yu-Han immediately ran up to the second floor, while Alice and Kim Ga-Eun went down to the basement.
"Ga-Eun... why is Yu-Han so twisted?"
"He has been a bit eccentric, twisted, and strange since the first time we met."
"So you know."
"But... Yu-Han C likes helping others more than he looks. Letting us go to the basement might also be..."
"Hmph. He probably just cleared us from his sight because we were annoying."
Alice firmly dismissed Kim Ga-Eun's optimistic thoughts.
***
"Damn it! How can those useless sanctioners not stop three intruders?! Finally, I see why I haven't made it big! I've been dragging around this dead weight all along!"
At that moment, the door to the Director's office burst open, and Yu-Han barged in.
"Hi. Are you the Director? Here, a gift."
Yu-Han lightly tossed something he was holding toward the Director.
The object that looked like a ball was... the severed head of the Deputy Director.
"Y-you bastard...! How can a human do such a cruel thing!"
When the Director caught the head in bewilderment, Yu-Han snapped his fingers.
The head caused a magnificent explosion.
Yu-Han had performed a Mana Over-injection on it, making it ready to detonate at any moment.
"Tsk tsk. Taking things from strangers without suspicion. Didn't your mother teach you better?"
However, when the smoke cleared, the Hwang-Ho Director was standing perfectly fine.
But his eyes were unfocused and hazy.
[Impressive, Yu-Han. To destroy even a shabby agency like this so quickly.]
"That voice... Kim Je-Hyeon!? The old grudge crawls out again..."
[Calling an elder by name... didn't your mother teach you manners? Ah, but of course, a factory-made product like you wouldn't have a mother! Kukhuh...!!]
"Anyway, you were controlling this human."
[Not just this one human. All the humans in this office are already under my domination! Not just the office! Humans scatteredthroughout Korea are already practically my puppets.]
"Congratulations on that. But why did you have to put a bounty on me?"
[I wanted to tell you this. Cooperate with me. Let's take this Korea into our hands.]
"...!"
Yu-Han was momentarily surprised, but he immediately became indifferent.
"Sorry, but this country has zero value to me."
[To refuse such a generous offer. The opportunity comes only once... Then instead, I will gift you death.]
At that moment, the Director used magic to summon a stone golem.
Golem Magic, known to be used only by experts...
Kim Je-Hyeon was using that high-level magic through the body of the human he was controlling.
[Yu-Han, you'd better be careful. Even a trash life from the bottom becomes different when I control it. After all, I used to be a sanctioner in the past too.]
Facing the Director and the Golem simultaneously, Yu-Han began to feel that things might end up dawdling on longer than expected.
***
"Hey, you guys! You said you were gonna sell me to the underground auction! Why are ya tryin' to kill me now!"
In the basement, Yi Rang shouted while struggling in her bonds.
The Hwang-Ho staff surrounded Yi Rang with unfocused eyes.
They, too, had been dominated by Kim Je-Hyeon for a long time.
"The plan has changed. The order is to destroy anything that could be evidence."
"No! My dream of livin' in luxury as a pet of a handsome oil prince!!"
"Hopeless bitch. True, you were never touched by the VIP's grace since you joined. That is proof that your mind was rotten from the start."
"No... that's too much..."
A Hwang-Ho staff member raised his sword high to decapitate Yi Rang, who was on the verge of tears. But a carbon-coated knife thrown by someone struck his wrist, sending his weapon flying.
"You people! Release that woman immediately!"
"Who the hell are you bastards?!"
Appearing were Alice in Combat AI Mode and Kim Ga-Eun in her monster form.
Yi Rang's face brightened upon seeing them.
"You, you guys came!! You actually came!!"
"Did you call them, you bitch!?"
One of the angry staff members slammed Yi Rang onto the floor and stomped on her face.
"Ack... Takin' it out on me won't help ya! Those guys are real monsters!"
Then, Alice and Kim Ga-Eun rushed in, effortlessly blowing off heads one by one.
"Ignoring my warning?"
"Alice C. It seems these guys were preparing for human trafficking here..."
"That makes them absolute maggots, lower than monsters!!!"
With rage, Alice began to swing the beam sword protruding from her wrist.
The technique Yu-Han showed, 'Death's Orbit', drastically improved Alice's combat AI, allowing her to slaughter enemies efficiently with minimal force.
Although she couldn't use summoning magic, she took out carbon-coated daggers from her coat with her free hand and threw them to pierce enemies' heads.
As for Kim Ga-Eun? She plunged tentacles into opponents, causing countless spikes to sprout from within their bodies, bursting them open.
It might be better not to describe the state of those corpses.
Finally, only Yi Rang, whose face had turned pale, remained.
"Th-thanks. But you ain't gonna kill me, right? Huh?"
"Why are you so scared? Come on, let's get out of here!"
Freed from her bonds, Yi Rang followed the two out to the first floor.
At that moment, the ceiling shook and completely collapsed, bringing down the Golems, Yu-Han, and the Hwang-Ho Director.
Because the Director summoned too many Golems in the fight against Yu-Han, the structure couldn't withstand the load.
[Haha, dance until you die, Yu-Han!! Unless you kill the user, Golems are practically invincible!]
Kim Je-Hyeon boasted through the Director's mouth.
However, as soon as he saw the Director's face, something lunged at him.
It was Yi Rang in Furry Mode, completely enraged and charging fiercely.
"You bastard... How dare ya do that crap to me!!?"
Yi Rang's tiger fist landed cleanly on the face of the Director, who hadn't expected her at all.
That fist, capable of crushing steel pipes, literally pulverized his skull.
The Golems instantly turned into piles of stones and crumbled.
[Yu... Han... You will regret... making an enemy of me!!]
Kim Je-Hyeon left his last death rattle and could no longer speak.
Alice retorted sarcastically.
"You said we'd be dawdling forever, but look who took the longest, huh?"
"...I just got incredibly unlucky, that's all."
***
After everything was over...
At the center Yu-Han founded.
"Kim Je-Hyeon, it seems he was controlling everyone with Mind Control magic..."
When Yu-Han explained, Yi Rang nodded as if realizing something.
"No wonder... Those guys were leavin' me out of everything! I can't believe they were all being controlled..."
Alice asked with a puzzled look.
"But Yu-Han... why did you bring Yi Rang C? She fits in here so naturally?"
"Hey! I didn't come 'cause I wanted to! That guy Yu-Han said he had somethin' to talk about!!"
"Indeed. I do have something to discuss."
Yu-Han smiled and pulled up a hologram screen.
There was a price settlement sheet.
The amount was over tens of millions of won.
Yi Rang instinctively felt a sense of foreboding.
"I accepted your request, so pay up."
"You jokin', right...? Where would I get that kinda big money... Didn't ya help me with a heart of justice to fight human trafficking...?"
"As if. If you don't have money, pay with your body."
"What!? What the hell are ya sayin'...!"
Hearing 'pay with your body', Yi Rang blushed and imagined all sorts of lewd scenarios.
Regardless of her reaction, Yu-Han took out a contract from his pocket.
"What weird things are you thinking? It means employment here until you pay off your debt."
"Ah, that's what ya meant? Phew..."
"If you understand, go clean the toilets."
"It's no different from before!!"
"When you're done, hang up the center sign too. Got it?"
"Damn it!!"
In a corner of the center, a square sign reading 'Cheong-Am(靑巖) Euthanasia Center' was reflecting light and flashing...